


This is (not really) a disaster

by deadpunk (Mr_Doctor)



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, But not really much, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Friendship, Gen, Genius Peter Parker, Geniuses, Harley Keener & Peter Parker Friendship, Harley Keener is a Good Bro, Harley Keener is a little shit, He will get a lot of them i promise, Ned Leeds is a Good Bro, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Precious Peter Parker, Protective Tony Stark, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-15
Updated: 2020-10-20
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:15:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 10,965
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25913470
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mr_Doctor/pseuds/deadpunk
Summary: Harley isn't very keen on leaving his garage, but seeing New York might be worth it, even if you have to go to some poorly equipped science camp. On the other hand, one meeting with local genius kid will make this trip a lot more interesting, won't it?Also involving Tony Stark being accidentally surrounded by a bunch of genius kids, a bit of panic and everyone getting some love as they deserve.
Relationships: Harley Keener & Peter Parker, Harley Keener & Peter Parker & Tony Stark, Harley Keener & Tony Stark, Ned Leeds & Peter Parker, Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Comments: 4
Kudos: 73
Collections: TonystarkKids





	1. Second-hand shops are good for important meetings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is slightly AU because I’ve decided that Ned found out about Spider-Man stuff long before canon, and even if things look like canon it’ll go even more AU from now on (I’m not sure where it’ll go though). And let me know if my english suck.

Harley would be the first one to admit that he is, in fact, annoying little shit. No wonder his mom used all strength to get rid of him, at least for the summer. Harley guessed that it had to do with a hole in a living room wall, but in his defence: that laser worked, just needed a few accuracy issues to be fixed. She didn’t have to freak out like she did, right?

“Did you pack everything? Passport? Documents? Don’t lose your documents!”  
  
“Mom, I’m not five, you know. I also have a higher IQ than everyone in this town combined, I can manage documents.” Harley stated, catching a disapproving glance from his mother. Eloquence wasn’t his stronger quality, some people even said he lacked any communication skills, but he never had time to do something about it, really. It felt alright.  
  
“Okay. Answer your phone. And for God’s sake, don’t get anyone killed.”  
  
“Sure, _mom_.” He rolled his eyes and got on a bus, letting a small smile slip on his face, then waved to his little sister. Well, to be fair, this wasn’t as bad as he complained. He was going to a science camp, in New York, it’s gotta be cool, at least a bit? Harley sighed, looking around half-empty bus. Leaving his super garage lab gifted by Tony Stark himself wasn't great. The fact that he managed to hack into this camp’s security and databases in less than two minutes didn’t sound promising either. 

Then he just had to find entertainment all by himself, right?  


***

New York looked awesome — so full of people and life — even though they only entered a suburb. Harley was supposed to get off the bus, meet his guide and safely arrive at the ‘campus’ with them. And that in every context sounded lame, so he decided to get there himself, a long way around.  
  
The crowds were floating, shops working on each corner, cars signaling, people shouting. It was so different from Rose Hill, where the most interesting event ever was Tony Stark ruining half of the town. But here, it seemed, everything was in motion, constantly working. Harley loved New York from the first sight and even more when he saw some old second-hand store full of not cloth but tech. It was dusty and nowhere as sophisticated as everything Tony left in his garage — but that reminded him of good old days running around neighbors and trash bins to find _any_ technology-related junk. Harley did pretty cool wonders with them. 

“Hey, young man, can I help?” Nice old lady behind the counter asked.  
  
“No I was just-”  
  
“Is that a Nintendo 64DD? I thought they were only released in Japan?” Harley turned around, maybe too fast, and saw a kid, around his age. He almost jumped when Harley stared at him. “Oh, sorry, I interrupted you! Didn’t mean it, sorry. I just saw this and I-”  
  
“It’s fine.” And people told Harley that he was bad at communication? “By the way you’re right, this stuff could be worth a few thousands dollars. Sick.”

Old woman laughed at them, Harley could finally see the badge — Mary, it said.  
  
“I thought you were too young to know such things. My older sister used to live in Japan, and she was a technology freak, I might say. Everything here is hers.”  
  
“Coool.” They both exclaimed, and proceeded to walk around the shelves. 

They talked a bit about this and that, followed by a lot of interesting encounters and Mary telling the story behind each. But the most interesting one, to Harley’s trail of thoughts, was this teenager, who seemed to know _a lot_. No one in Rose Hill knew at least half as much. 

“Hey, I didn't catch your name back there. You're pretty clever, so what’s your deal?” Harley stopped him on the exit.  
  
“Uhm… Nothing? I’m just Peter.” It took a few moments to answer, the teenager seemingly confused by attention.  
  
“Okay, _just Peter_ , I’m Harley. Kinda new here, just arrived for some stupid science camp or whatever. Are you from around? Maybe you can show me some places? I need to head back to the ‘campus’ or what they call it, but we could catch up later, that’d be cool. You okay?”  
  
“Yes. Yes. Great. Catch up later, cool. Uhm, so-” 

Right, this guy can’t talk in sentences or what? He seemed fine rambling about the history of exclusive consoles, so what changed? Weird. Interesting. Definitely better that Rose Hill or poorly equipped science camp.

“I’m gonna leave you my number. Can I take your phone?” Peter seemed hesitant for a moment, but gave it anyway. “Here. Didn’t your mum tell you that it’s not actually great to give your stuff to strangers?” Harley teased, just a bit. It was who he was, couldn’t stop his mouth.  
  
“Ha,” There was a strangely dark grin on Peter’s face. “Jokes on you, I don’t have a mother.”

There was awkward silence for a moment, no one dared to disturb. Both of them looked puzzled.

“Um, sorry?” Harley unfroze, remembering all ‘you need to apologize’ tantrums his mom threw when he couldn’t keep his mouth shut.  
  
“No, no. It’s cool. It was a long time ago. Jokes are not my strong side, I believe?” Peter smiled.  
  
“Humor based on your pain and traumas? C’mon, I’m all into it.”  
  
“Okay… Cool. I probably should go now?” He said after a pause, nervously staring at the floor.  
  
“Yep, see ya. I’ll text you.”  
  
“Bye.”

Harley stood there for a few moments, watching Peter disappearing in the crowd. Mom told him to try and make new friends, so he was doing alright, wasn’t he?  


***

  
They were worried and scolded him for being late, lost and everything. Harley skipped the whole monologue, looking around the hall. The place was fancy, he’d give them that. ‘Campus’ was actually two connected buildings with a nice backyard in between. He was given a small tour around some labs, cafeteria, more labs and dormitory. The guide explained once again that their purpose is to bring together the brightest minds from around the country, giving some not-so-wealthy kids an opportunity to show skills and intellect. Harley noted to himself to check legal papers and contracts and find a catch. It’d never be so simple.

“Welcome to the Light Youth Camp. Get comfortable, this is your room for the next month.”

Harley felt a flinch of guilt thinking how much struggle it took his mom to get him here. He aced all entering exams which gave some benefits in the financial side of this trip. But he never bothered to learn how much all this actually cost.

The room wasn’t big with one bunk-bed, two tables, a bunch of shelves and one nerd-looking kid, who looked a few years younger.

“I claim top bunk.” Pronounced Harley without bothering to say hello. “I’m Harley, by the way.”  
  
“Okay. Owen.” He was sitting in a dark corner, reading some book. Glasses were slipping from his nose and he had to adjust them every few minutes. Not very comfortable, thought Harley, unpacking an old gym bag.

Owen didn’t seem to be a talkative type and Harley decided not to push it. They just have to tolerate each other for the next month. It seemed manageable.  


***

Peter was the first one to admit that he is, in fact, really bad at social communications. He just wanted to find some old details to repair an old monitor he found in some old dumpster. How on earth did he manage to be awkwardly engaged into conversation with an unknown person? More of, agree to be his guide around New York? As if Peter didn’t have enough on his plate.  
Ned laughed when he heard the story.  
  
“It seemed actually nice, you know?” He managed after three rounds of laughter and a whole specter of desperation on his friend's face. “I mean, you should definitely go. Wind up a bit.”  
  
“But… I just- I don’t know. I’m gonna mess it up somehow and it’s gonna be a disaster.” Peter mumbled. “Please, help me. What do I do?”  
  
“How are you so confident as Spider-Man and so _you_ right now?” Ned scratched his head, while Peter worriedly eyed him with a mention of ‘Spider-Man’. “You know, I can go with you?”  
  
“You can?” Gears started shifting in his brain. “Yes, yes, thank you. I’m not sure what I’d without you!”  
  
Ned huffed. “I’m your Guy in the Chair. And you’d be just fine. Anyway, that blown circuits you mentioned-” 

They spent the next few hours digging through metal junk and wires that teenagers had found on the streets. It helped Peter to distract from everything, especially how crazy and messed up his life was, ever since that spider bit him. Luckily, Ned had found out not long after Uncle Ben di- (no-no-no stop thinking about it) and it helped a lot. So, whatever, he can just focus on what he can handle and gradually ignore everything else, right? Right.  
Especially Peter could ignore the fact that he needed to show a stranger around New York as if he lived somewhere outside Queens. Well, Ned would help him, wouldn’t he?

It won’t end in disaster. At least he hoped so.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> By the way, I'm really bad at scheldues and everything so updates will be chaotic and might take long. I also have no idea where this fic will go (I only have a general direction). Sorry.


	2. Alarms, friends and more alarms

“What the fuck?” Harley groaned, waking up. Yesterday he argued with his, uh, teacher? Nanny? Annoying caretaker? It was about him not wanting to get out of the room to get some dinner, but Karl -- that was his name -- just wouldn’t listen. Firstly, Harley had eaten hot dogs on the street, because it was _New York_ and he just needed it so much (they’re overrated, he found out). Secondly, Harley was busy, but this particular part he decided not to mention as his activities weren’t exactly government approved, otherwise called illegal. He’d been searching through ‘Light Youth Camp’ servers for the whole evening and found not much useful information. Except, maybe, the fact that the whole thing was secretly founded by Hammer Industries. That sucked but not as much as alarm savagely ringing right in his ear.

“Hey, Owen, what the fuck?”

“It’s an alarm. Camp has speakers all around: time for breakfast. They’ve explained it all yesterday.” Owen looked as irritated as Harley, though it was hard to determine the exact reason. It could be Harley being stupid, lack of sleep or the supid alarm. No way to tell. “Can’t they just this stupid thing off! Ugh.”

He felt pain, so the only reasonable thing was to take a screwdriver (he always had one close, just in case) and threw it right at the speakers. Noise stopped, but hardly thanks to the throw.  
Harley somehow got up, grabbed his backpack and laptop and crawled out of the room.

_yo whats up_

He quickly texted Peter, walking through corridors to the cafeteria. It was full of people, from ten to sixteen, wandering around, chatting and shouting. Harley sighed, took some food and occupied the farthest place as he usually did in school’s canteen. Laptop was opened in a few seconds and the search continued.

Harley was so keen on leaving Rose Hill, while his mother was so keen on having at least one peaceful month without her son getting something on fire, that none of them really cared what they were singing up to. The deal seemed fine [PR did a good job] and, most importantly, affordable. Price depended mostly on their test scores, and they were so fairly simple, that Harley was surprised.

But oh-so-pure-and-bright image faded away with every new piece of information. The most striking part was that Hammer Industries not just funded ‘Light Youth Camp’ but actually owned it through subsidiaries and shell companies.

“That sucks, huh.” He caught a few glances but fully ignored them. It was suspicious, really, really suspicious. And Harley didn’t want to associate with such an excuse for a company. He was a kid then, but he acquired enough information about Stark Expo 2010 to judge. He sighed and looked at his phone to finally find a long-awaited answer.

_i’m fine i guess. you?_

_not sure yet. wanna give me a tour tomorrow?_

The answer came instantly:  
_okay  
uhm is there a particular place you’d like to see or smth?  
oh and do you mind if my friend comes too?  
he’s cool  
really  
if you don’t mind of course_

_chill dude im cool  
abt place  
you choose_

_okay great_

Then Peter got on rambling about his friend Ned, geeking out about the new Star Wars lego set, and Harley was pretty into it, even forgetting about his currently running subroutines. Well, in any case, it didn’t last long, because they were sent to their daily activities. He looked at the schedule with lectures on any topic, labs’ working hours, workshops and everything. Which seemed pretty fascinating (apart from lectures as most of the programm he’d already learned during his surfing around SI servers -- thanks for the access, Mechanic), but not with a strange tingling sensation in Harley’s mind. Something was off. But what?

***

Despite all concerns, the day went pretty great as Harley crashed around labs to test local equipment in case he’d require some in the future and casually programm small robot to bring him cookies from the kitchen. It wasn’t hard, but teachers (coaches? supervisors? he still couldn’t figure it out) were impressed. Fellow teenagers around here were smart, no doubt, but they were far behind him. Harley noted only four people who could rival him, but they didn’t seem to be open for contact. So, whatever. He was busy anyway.  
Harley tried to be careful, because the Pentagon Fiasco was still fresh in mind. That also meant things weren’t going as fast as he hoped. He’d already felt at hope in the Light Youth Camp and Hammer Industries' databases that it was funny how this was one of the leading weaponry companies in the US. But still, his ‘covering tracks’ subroutine wasn’t optimal enough, taking too much resources, and his laptop hadn’t been the best either.  
And people started to wonder what he was up to.

“All your inventions can be potentially used for good. They can be manufactured world-widely and bring you fame in the scientific community.” Cheesy voice talked to some boy, surprisingly glancing at all the tech around him. “Harley here, for example, is already programming. Let’s see what it is, right? I bet it’s something impressive.”

“It is impressive, but also none of your business.” Harley spitted, not even trying to sound nice. He hated people interfering or using him to prove some point. The supervisor looked conflicted, apparently people tend to react differently, when you provide them with such opportunities. Truth be told though, everything here was so inferior to the garage in Rose Hill. “Now, please, leave. Or am I the only one who has work to do?”

Harley had no idea, when he became such an asshole, but blamed it entirely on Mechanic’s influence. Snapping at people like this was new. He didn’t mind because it worked as two people disappeared from his sight. New idea: found a less crowded place. Couldn’t be difficult, right?

Well. It took around ten minutes to settle in an empty auditorium, where the lectures were held. And after he settled comfortably, someone still managed to interfere.

“Aren’t you supposed to be busy with workshops?” Stranger asked, suspiciously looking at him. Suspicious was mutual.

“It’s too noisy, no thanks, I’m good here.”

“What exactly is ‘good’ here?”

“Well, I should paraphrase then. I _was_ good here, silently working on a project of mine, until you came and ruined it. What are _you_ doing here anyway? I didn’t know there’s a constant supervision or some law against sitting comfortably anywhere you like. Or is there? Sorry, new here, haven’t figured it out yet.” Yep, here goes the tendency to ramble. Was it too passive-aggressive? Whatever, he didn’t like vibes from this place and it’s personnel alike.

“No, everything is okay. Be careful and don’t miss dinner.”  
Why did it sound like a threat?

After that only lost teenagers dropped by, which made his life far better. Light Youth Camp was so pure and innocent on the front, but the deeper Harley went, the weirder it got. He found _a lot_ of lawsuits, than even more lawsuits. All of them concerning ownership rights to… Something. Fun part: Light Youth Camp won every case. Harley wasn’t a law expert, but it surely seemed messed up.

Then the dinner came and went, admittedly fine, then Peter texted, which somehow led to a purely scientific ‘how tf was an arc reactor built under a terrorists noses’, which lasted for the whole evening. Then a report from SI servers came (someone did send him a quick compilation on what was done and what books/courses he should check out on topics he was interested in. Apparently, it wasn’t Mechanic. Scary, kind of). He didn’t even notice how sleep came creeping.

***

Next morning started with this stupid alarm. Again. Harley was going to do something about it, but today he had a ‘get out unnoticed’ operation to conduct.

And it was… Way too easy. He hacked cameras (already in their system, peace of cake), carefully went through halls, navigating with said cameras, used his phone as a fake key (prints and access codes were in the system as well) and just walked out, not forgetting to clear the log. Like that, waay too easy. Where’s the challenge?

The wind was slightly blowing as Harley walked around streets glancing at high buildings around. After the whole one-store Rose Hill, New York felt even more surreal than Iron Man in his garage (well, at least there’d be a challenge). Streets felt refreshing, Harley stopped a few times to pet stray cats and dogs, while walking towards the meeting point which happened to be a store where they’d met. It took him less than fifteen minutes, so he was too early. Surprisingly, Peter stood there already. Headphones on, scrolling through his phone. Hoodie with ‘R.I.P. boiling water you will be mist’ and image of boiling water (obviously) on it. That was so unexpectedly nerdy that Harley even forgot about ‘isn’t it too hot to wear a hoodie’ question that crossed his mind earlier.

“Heey,” he shouted, hoping to be heard even through headphones. Somehow, he was.

“Hi,” Peter answered shortly and waved his hand, “Ned went to get some food. He’ll be back in a few minutes.”

“Sure. So where are we going?”

“Uh… Well, we could go to Time Square? Museum? Central Park? I wasn’t sure, so I checked everything and, you know, it’s all working and popular tourists sights here, so…”

“Did you just google ‘New York sights’ and clicked on the first link?”

Peter hesitated and lowered his head. “Yeah, I might have.”

Harley snorted, trying not to laugh, watching as confusion growed on his friend’s face. “Sorry,” Peter said. “I don’t get out of Queens too often-”

“No, no, seriously, chill, it’s fine.” Harley stopped for a second, catching a breath. “You know what? I wouldn’t mind a tour through typical teenage places in Queens.”

“Typical teenage places? I’m not right person then-”

“Whatever, just show me where you hang out. And, _again_ , chill, I’m not gonna kill you or something.”

Luckily for Peter Ned showed up at this exact moment, interrupting their so-very-awkward conversation. To Harley’s liking he happened to be even more nerdy than Peter.

“So you know stuff about coding, right?”

“Peter does too.”

“He is better though,” Peter chimed in, nodding into Ned’s direction.

“Yeah, I’m more software, he’s more hardware, or something like that,” Ned continued, clarifying what everyone had already understood.

“To be honest… I’m more into chemistry, but we help each other at everything… At least I try to be as much help as I-”

“Don’t listen, he’s very good. Like, _very_ good. I couldn’t find why Runny the II kept identifying my socks as a security threat when Peter just came and it took him five seconds to find a fatal mistake that I’ve been tracking for two hours!”

Harley grinned at Peter, who was desperately trying to protect with ‘you were just tired, I didn’t do anything special’, but listening to more Ned’s stories, he got more sure that he was somehow very lucky to bump into smartest people in his life (except Mechanic and that Doctor Cho woman, who consulted him on one of the ‘this is fun, I’ve seen that in a dream, hope it won't blow up’ things).

They were walking around Queens and even though both New Yorkers claimed it’d be boring, this trip placed itself near top on the scale with “School” at the bottom and “Mark III in his garage, fighting villains with Tony Stark and blowing Rose Hill’s infrastructure” as the ultimate top (he’d never admit it to Mechanic though). Yep, Harley enjoyed debating Star Wars technical probabilities in real life too much.

As they were sitting on the grass with possibly the best sandwiches in Harley’s life Ned started talking about them (illegally) reprogramming vending machine in the school, resulting in a small explosion, being caught and issued with a three weeks detention. But looking at the scared student’s eyes as the vending machine started to threaten them in Darth Vader’s voice.  
“That’s not the worst that could happen. One day I’ll tell you about my Pentagon Fiasco, but that’s waay too embarrassing,”

“Don’t tell me you fucked up breaking into the Pentagon or something?”

“That’s classified, technically.”

“What? How did you? Wait, why are you okay then?” Peter mumbled, shifting eyes from amused Harley to shocked Ned.

“My sugar daddy got me out. Well-” Harley smirked, totally enjoying it.

“What. The. Fuck?”

Harley erupted in a full-blown laugh watching Peter’s worried face. “M’ joking. Your face-” He started laughing again.

***

Day went by, and to everyone's surprise everything wasn’t as bad as expected.

Until, of course, it was. Harley’s phone rang, but not with ‘someone calls you’ sound but with ‘you’re fucked’ sound. He swore at his phone. Life just couldn’t go peacefully.

“Something happened?”  
“I need a wi-fi and a place to sit. Very urgent.”  
“I live nearby, just around the corner. Aunt May won't mind… I think?”  
“You think? Wait, whatever, just lead the way, my saviour.”

They were almost running as Harley was scrolling through the phone, checking what triggered an alert. Something inside Hammer Industries’ servers happened to be too smart, which, to be fair, seemed impossible.

“You can take my computer,” Peter said, swinging the door open into the empty flat.  
“Thanks, I’ve got mine. Can’t leave him alone, it’s almost part of me.”  
“Feel ya, man,” smirked Ned, fishing out a laptop from his backpack. “Need some back up?”  
“Find out in a moment.”

Harley was looking through place where the alarm was triggered, but nothing could possibly do it. He _knew_ he was discovered, but it seemed like he was busted by a ghost (pun intended).

“So what’s up?” Teenagers were too eager to know. Well, no harm if he told them, right?  
“I had my programs search through Hammer’s servers and I had a backup program for a back up plan for the first backup program for emergency situations. It was triggered.”  
“But that’s Hammer… Even toddlers could hack him,” Ned argued, frowning.  
“I know! Either I’m really fucked or my program made a mistake. And it doesn’t make mistakes.”

“There should be traces then? We just need to find it, right? Would you...” Peter’s proposition was cut off by a loud signal coming from Harley’s laptop. It drove their attention instantly, but just confused the group even more. On a large black screen there were six simple red and gold letters, stating “Gotcha”. Harley hissed.

“I know who it was,” an evil grin appeared on his face. “And I’m gonna get revenge. Hey,” Harley turned to Ned and Peter, “I’ve got an excellent idea,” he waited a few seconds, for dramatic effect. “Interested in breaking into Stark Industries?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yeah it's finally here (took me around 10 days and I hope to keep it up like this). Hope you liked it!


	3. New friendship

“Breaking into Stark Industries!?” Peter’s eyes widened when he heard Harley’s words. _Interesting_ (read absurd) idea still echoed in the head. His new friend was insane or what?  
“Wait, but what with this ‘message’? Who was it?” Ned cut in, sounding no less surprised.

“Obviously, Stark Industries’ monitoring stuff is deep inside this code. No wonder, they don’t need a second Expo, so I guess they’ve just bumped into me.”

“Okay, but… What with breaking in? Everyone knows about their security. It’s the best. No, even better: it’s Stark’s security. Impossible.”

“Nothing is. Oh, come on, it’ll be fun.”

Ned and Peter exchanged gazes, as if having some wordless conversation. The last one sighed.  
“We’re gonna get in trouble if get caught.”

“Then we won’t get caught.”

“Y’know, breaking into SI’s servers is like a dream,” Ned smiled, “I’m in.”

Peter hesitated for a few seconds, shifting eyes from one of his friends to another. Mad. They’re definitely mad. But can he do something about it? Can he stop them? More of, does he want to stop them? “Okay. Okay! But we’ll take every precaution we can.”

“Naturally,” Harley’s grin widened. “So… let’s check out what we’ve got.”

They were running tests, checking and upgrading their programs till evening, when someone came home. It wasn’t dark yet, so Peter was surprised to find aunt May on the doorstep.

“We didn’t have much work today, thankfully,” she smiled, turning her attention to two teenager sneaking out of the bedroom. “Hey, Ned, who’s your new friend?”

“M’ Harley.”

“It’s glad to know Peter is making friends. He is not a very social type,” Peter tried to object, but May just laughed it off. “Will you stay for dinner?”

“Thanks for the offer, but I have places to be and all that, and I will probably go know, bye,” Harley awkwardly retreated to the direction of the door.  
Peter wanted to ask why wouldn’t he stay for dinner, but his friend was already putting on sneakers. “Tomorrow, here?” Harley asked, already staying in the door, and then retreated after getting a nod from Peter.  
“And you, Ned?” May asked, after a small awkward pause.

Ned stayed, of course, he did like May’s cooking after all. Evening was lovely as teenagers recited all the details of their first meeting. They went on talking about Harley for at least half an hour, maybe skipping some details that involved ‘hacking’ or anything illegal that may go with it. May smiled and laughed throughout the whole evening, while Ned’s parents called and he had to go home. They discussed a few details for tomorrow

“What are you planning?” She asked casually, as if that was the most obvious thing to ask.

Peter choked. “Wha… What do you mean? Nothing, absolutely nothing. We’re just hanging around, you know, as normal teenagers…” He was panicking, just a bit. Or a lot? He couldn’t lie to May, she saw right through him.

“Okay, as you say, normal teenager,” she totally didn’t believe him, but changed the topic. Peter was really, really grateful. She told him a bit about work, they chatted about some unimportant nonsense, and watched a few episodes of not-very-clever sitcom. Peter was trying hard not to remember the fact that not sling ago it was three of them. That the couch is big enough for three people. No, no, no. It was just too much, he needed to get some air, he needed…

Peter managed to sneak out after he heard May’s quiet breathing. In a few minutes the self-made suite and web-shooters were on him and the night air of New Yorke floated right into his head. He could breath, he could, it’s not that difficult, right? Left hand, right hand and sense of freedom filled him. Spider-Man was flying through the streets, meaning citizens could walk fearlessly. Being a hero felt good. Better than sitting in a small flat knowing there’s something missing and it’s his fault. Better than knowing he can’t do anything about it. Better than feeling so, so, _so_ useless.

***

Harley made it just in time for dinner. Someone asked why he didn't visit any lectures or classes today so he had to make some ‘I am not feeling well, sir’ excuses. That worked, apparently. Except that strange dude with cold eyes he met in a conference room was staring, Harley had shivers going down his spine, which, to be fair, is pretty simple to ignore if you have to make up a plan for annoying some powerful billionaires.

Their room was pretty quiet, filled only with keyboard tapping, as Owen was working on blueprints of a rescuing robot.

“Iron legion inspired?” Harley asked, a bit curious, because the design did look good.

“Pretty much, yes. But this one for water rescue purposes only. I’m pretty sure iron legion could help people in the water too, but I’m not as genius as Stark,” he shrugged.

“Maybe not, but that's still pretty cool. Additional turbine with a water power source? Pretty great.”

“Thanks. I’m trying to figure out how to make it cheaper, because otherwise it won’t make any sense, but can’t think of anything,”

“Why’s you need so many armour plates? It’s not combat, as far as I remember,”

“Yes, but the ocean is dangerous. Sharks, at very least,”

“You do realise, if you’re saving a human and there’s a shark, the robot might get out untouched, but human wouldn’t anyway?”

Owen paused for a second, gears working in his head. He frowned and started biting his nails, looking extremely uneasy. “Right. That’s… That’s… I totally forgot about people being so fragile. Right.”

Harley smiled with every sentence, until it grew in a full-blown laughter. Owen frowned even more, as if asking why he was being laughed at. “You know,” Harley managed, still grinning, “you, saving people forgetting about people, is kinda fun.”

“Okay, okay! I’ll think of something else. Just don’t,” he sight, “don’t laugh at me, please?”

Harley raised his eyebrows, almost asking what’s wrong, but stopped just in time. Everyone has their own demons. “I won’t, sorry. You’re very welcome, by the way.”

“Oh, shut up, I’d figure out that myself sooner or later.”

He didn’t argue, because his roommate surely wasn’t stupid. Owen’s coldness (okay, there was a huge urge to laugh) in the first two days sucked, but science did bring people together. But as much as Harley wanted to debate some other stuff in blueprints, he still had stuff to do. And the work began.

Halrey woke up as someone was tapping on his shoulder. Opening eyes did pose a challenge and groans filled the room.

“Not… not the siren?” Harley saw Owen’s smiling face. “Did you..?”

Smile widened even more as he waved with torn wires. “You weren’t the only one pissed. Borrowed your screwdriver.”

“An angel.”

“I might be… But we still shouldn’t be late for breakfast. I’ll go, don’t skip it.”

Harley nodded, trying not to fall back asleep. But, unfortunately, life couldn’t be as simple as he hoped. After all efforts of staying awake and getting out of the room, there happened to be another obstacle. So early in the morning…

“Just why are you bothering me?”

“I haven't seen you at any classes.” The man, same cold-eyed bothering him since the beginning of the camp.

“And so? You can’t be everywhere.” Harley was trying his best to be polite, but the patience was running out. He had stuff to do, people to meet, he just didn’t have time to…

“Excuse me, sir, but Harley was working whole day on his project, I can guarantee.” Like that, an angel came to his aid.

“How can you know?”

“Roommates. Helped me yesterday too.” Owen smiled and it looked so genuine Harley wanted to ask how to do it. That smile, so fake and perfect, meant only for deceiving purposes. It reminded something, just a bit.

“Sure…” The man narrowed his eyes and backed off, leaving them alone in the corridor.

“You’re _so_ cool. Saved my ass, thanks.”

“My father is a diplomat of some sort, I’ve learnt, nothing special,” Owen shrugged.

“Oh, c’mon, it’s very special.”

For a second Harley saw his friend blushing and letting out a small smile. They had breakfast together, not talking much. Owen still wasn’t the most talkative person. He explained that the man was head of security, meant to overlook for students and make sure everything is in order. Teenager mentally noted to run a background check NAME. He’ll certainly do it, but maybe not today. Harley waved goodbye to the roommate and followed the same line of actions as yesterday, fastly getting to one apartment in Queens. Peter and Ned were waiting.

“Should we start?”

Harley grinned instead of an answer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for 150+ hits! And for kudos, subscriptions, bookmarks and everything. This chapter was a transition one I guess (wanted to give some time to Owen, yea), nothing really happened, but the next one should be more fun. And it might take longer (sorry), because classes have started and I have to see new people, meet new people and readjust for the rhythm again.


	4. The best day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's finally happening!

“Wait, how do you know about, like, everything in their security?” Peter asked, frowning.

“You see, I have access…” Harley shrugged.

“How the fuck do you even… No, why do you even need to break-in?”

“Okay, I don’t have access to everything and I really like to be annoying.”

Peter sighed, obviously second-guessing his life decisions, but Ned was smiling. “C’mon, dude, it’ll be cool!”

It seemed even too simple to convince a trying-to-be-responsible teenager. He was failing pretty badly, though Harley didn’t mind. Was he a bad influence? Well, whatever.

They’d bought a whole lot of snacks, discussed everything again. Thrill of the upcoming adventure was filling the air. Peter no longer looked distressed, but more excited now, Ned, almost jumping for joy, kept saying that this’d be the best day ever. Harley for a second wanted to remind them that they were breaking into a highly-secured facility (to be fair, probably the most secured facility, but who cared).

It felt good to look at the familiar lines of code. They spent time typing along with talking with technical terms and memes. All teenagers had to admit that the atmosphere of keyboard thumping never felt so good.

“This is amazing!” Ned couldn’t stop smiling, at the same time being extremely concentrated on the task.

“Right, cool,” Peter mumbled, “as if we’re not hacking into the…”

“Hey, third alert, concentrate,” Harley interrupted. “Ned, access to speakers?”

“Wow, dude, I’m not Tony Stark, give me a few more minutes.”

“Don’t touch Legal Department though, I want to live to adulthood,” Harley shivered, remembering _the_ people. It took him one time to understand how they were able to deal with Mechanic and all the stuff he pulls off on a daily basis. Truly, the teenager'd never met Miss Potts, but surely she was the only one capable of beating Legal scariness.

“No probs. Around two minutes to go, ready?”

“Yes,” exclaimed Harley, grinning all his teeth out, followed by Peter, murmuring silent “no”. Two minutes passed in tense silence, while Ned was fishing the last preparations. He turned, at last, and smiled, “Ready.”

“Aim,” a small smile appeared on Peter’s face. Oh, he was secretly enjoying all this way too much. Harley thought that his mom would call him a bad influence because of that. Gladly, she didn’t have to know.

“Fire!” Harley jumped off the chair. And the “Enter” was pressed.

***

Mike didn’t have the best day or, should he say, past two days and night, that he went without sleep, trying to finish the project on time. Deadlines sucked really, really bad. He wasn’t sure whether he’ll fall asleep sooner or his heart will stop working because of all the coffee and energy drinks. The R&D department had a lot of fun, with Stark occasionally hanging around and blowing stuff up with them, until everyone, even the man himself, were reminded that they also had actual work to do. God, he hated just _how much_ paperwork were there.

The room was busy with desperate people craving for sleep or coffee and Mike was one of them. There were a lot of perks working in Stark Industries and quality coffee certainly was one. Okay, right, did he need to switch his mind to something else? But coffee…

He poured a whole cup to himself and decided to take a small break, chill around (another perk), trying not to pay much attention to game consoles, because, yet again, he had work to do. Mind started slipping to very strange topics, fighting with itself not to fall asleep.

And then the music played. All screens lit up, showing gif of Captain America, sitting on a chair and saluting, with red and blue letters over it, saying “Gotcha”. No one had any idea what was happening, but the whole department, buried into deadlines and paperwork, collectively burst into laughs.

***

The doorbell rang. As Peter nervously glanced at them, Harley understood: no, he wasn’t expecting anyone. But asked anyway.

“I… I don’t…” Teenager answered, the doorbell ringing more savagely.

“Oh man, we’re fucked, aren’t we?” Ned exclaimed, starting an emergency situation cleaning program on his laptop.

“Okay, okay. Maybe it’s just a lost old lady or- or… I’ll go open the door,” Peter mumbled, taking a deep breath. Admittedly, there was plenty of bravery. Ned and Harley stayed, peeking out from the corner. He was interested and, maybe, a bit scared, which, of course, no one should know. Oh, Mechanic'd be angry, but he couldn’t send anyone this fast, right?

“Hey,” a familiar voice rang from the doorstep, making all teenagers scream on the inside. “So this little disaster is now a gang leader. Great.”

“Oh- Ahm, Mister… Doctor… Stark Iron Man, sir, I’m-” Peter was panicking way too obviously.

“Calm down, kid, I’m not here to kill you. Well, not exactly you. Can I come in?”

Peter started nodding eagerly, as if he wanted his head to fall off. Ned almost bumped against the wall, continuing to exclaim some words, which Harley couldn’t connect in any reasonable sentence. And then the billionaire spotted them, grinning way too widely for anyone’s liking.

“Kid, you are a little shit, you know that?”

“So are you, but a bit bigger,” Harley scoffed, stopping a happy smile from appearing on his face. “I didn’t start it anyway.”

“You were in Hammer’s databases. Everything is way better, but still…”

“You were there too.”

“Touche.”

Harley slipped, letting a smile chime in. It’s not like he was glad to see Mechanic, but he definitely was. The billionaire, CEO (no, wait, that’s Miss Potts) and Iron Man most of the time was too busy for some random kid in a random small town, but unlike dad, he managed to be there at least sometimes. It took maybe a mischief or two to attract his attention, but hey, who cares. And all those instruments, online courses, guides he got his hands onto thanks to Mechanic. Oh- oh, he needed to stop admiring.

“So, criminals, can I get some coffee before I start a long speech about your behaviour?”

Peter loudly swallowed and disappeared in the kitchen, while Ned kept staring at Stark in full ave. Understandable. The visitor was looking around the room, not paying attention to teenagers. Luckily, Parker got back really fast, breaking the tense silence with his rumbling, “It’s just a simple black from the supermarket, so I’m sorry it’s gonna be bad. Well, I don’t think it’s bad, I don’t like coffee, but May drinks it and she’s okay, so I hope…”

“Thanks, kid. So who are you and why one annoying element is corrupting you?” Stark asked, sitting behind the table as if it’s his own house.

“Wow, he’s real,” Ned let out, making Stark chuckle for a second.

“Yeah, I think so too, would be hard not to be real, right? Anyway, snap back to us, NAME. I want answers."

“Hey, I want a lecture first! What do you think of our joined forces then?” Harley really wanted to know, he was programming and learning and… Yeah, maybe he just needed a bit of praise.

“Admittedly, I’m pretty impressed. You managed to get far in my systems, but, c’mon, have you seen your encryption programs? Even a toddler could trace back to you. Pretty hard to spot, but then way too easy to find…”

“Well, excuse us for having to use a cheap darknet servers and for not having the powerful hardware, Mister Billionaire,” Harley argued.

“I can break in anywhere even from here, and so can you.”

“We can’t, Mister Stark! You know, you’re Tony Stark, and we’re just nobodies… Oh- I didn't mean to interrupt," Peter still couldn't wrap his mind around the situation, apparently.

“Okay, we’ll have to talk about your self-esteem problems, noted.”

Harley wanted to remind the man of his own problems as Stark’s watch beeped and glowed in red. He tapped twice on his ear, seemingly paling, then sighed. “Okay, kids, as I’m definitely not insane and don’t want to die today, I have to go and insult some important people in suits,” he

Tony fucking Stark left and Ned let out the only phrase he could: “The Best. Day. Of My Life.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yes, I'm really headcanoning the fact, that each time Harley does something stupid/illegal/dangerous Tony comes and explains him kinda explains him what he did wrong and which direction should he follow to do his mischief better (not, like, explains him in every detail, but gives hints and points out stuff, encouraging to fix things himself). I don't think I managed to put up with all Tony Stark level of coolness and jokes but at least I tried.  
> Also sorry for the delay, I'm kinda having a weird time right here and I need to sort out some stuff. I'll try not to be late again but no promises.


	5. Even better

Peter didn’t have any idea on how to stop shaking. No, the sun was shining brightly, birds singing and everything that considered to be good weather seemes to accompany the day. It was just the fact that he stood in front of Stark Tower (wait, Avengers Tower), the place where brightest minds work, a multi-billion company, three meters away. Glass reflected light, shimmer and shining right in the eyes, making it hard to really understand how amazing it looked. And yes, Peter stood right there, not daring to step into.

Last day went crazy, with Harley explaining how he met Tony Stark (holy shit, he did too now, right?) in all funny detail. It seemed as if he described a movie plot. Seemed right, a fight, not an easy childhood and a reward. But it happened to be life. After that an email came, saying that they all are expected to appear in the Tower the next day. So Peter stood there, though their meeting point was a main hall.

“Are you lost or something?” asked a man, almost bumping in the teenager.

“No..?” Peter took a quick glance: the stranger had huge bruises under eyes, ruffled hair and a very, very tired expression.

“Why so unsure? I’m Mike, by the way. New intern maybe?” Apparently, he got lost in thoughts for a second, then gasped and exclaimed, “Shit, I’m so late. Don’t be scared, we only bite if we get threatened.”

Peter didn’t even have time to throw a confused look as Mike disappeared inside. He needed to follow, no matter what he felt, you can’t just ditch on Tony Stark. Teenager wouldn’t forgive this to himself. So Peter took a deep breath and walked in. 

It was like stepping into a new world: everything screamed “technology”. Small cleaner robots were riding around, monitors with tips, ads, schedules hung around the hall. And people seemed to be so out of his league. A lot of suits and a lot of briefcases. By saying a lot, he meant _a lot_. Peter gasped, not daring to move as if his dirty sneakers would ruin perfection built up here. 

“Which one are you? Parker or Leeds?” Questions made him almost jump, the look of a very scary guard in a suit didn’t help. “Wake up.”

He snapped his fingers, making the teenager get back to real life. “Please don’t kill me! Oh- Oh, Parker, I meant, sorry.”

“Where does he find all of you?” He sighed, handing a plastic card. “That’s your badge, don’t forget to wear it. Follow to the lift, then it’ll automatically take you to the right place.” Peter nodded. “Wear badge!”

Badges? Right, badges. Man’s said “Happy Hogan, head of security”. Wait, head of security? Meeting him? Okay, okay, don’t panic. No one would kill him, because killing is illegal, yes? Wait-wait, breath in, breath out, go to the lift. Everything is going to be fine.

The old rock music, playing in the lift, didn’t quite help the situation, only reminding that Stark could probably do whatever he wanted. 

“Excuse me, mister Parker, your heart rate is exceeding the norm, do you need any assistance?” The firm voice came right from the speakers, making Peter’s heart rate go up even more. 

“No, no, sorry, I’m fine, just nervous, Mister uhm-”

“Please, call me Jarvis. Mister Stark’s personal assistant, Artificial Intelligence. If you have any questions, I am always available. I do recommend you not to worry so much.”

“Thanks,” okay, AI? Right, sure, what else did he expect in the Tower. In the Stark Industries. Oh, maybe he needed to calm down. Even all Spider-Man stuff never made him as nervous. You don’t meet your role model every day.

Doors swung open, overlooking a spacious living room. It seemed empty, even considering Ned, staring into panoramic windows, and Harley lying on the sofa, typing on the phone. The room certainly meant to accommodate a lot of people. Ned noticed him first, waving and at the same moment starting rambling about probably everything from the ride here to Jarvis. 

“So you all came, huh,” Tony (chill Peter, yes, it’s him, no need to panic, breathe) Stark entered the room in all glory. He managed to look good in a dirty t-shirt and pants, with ruffled hair and a huge cup of coffee.

“You can’t expect people to miss a chance to see you,” Harley answered, smirking. “So what now?”

“We didn’t finish a conversation, remember?”

“And you might be a bit interested in a bunch of really smart kids.”

“Maybe, yes. I can feel more trouble, thanks, kid.”

“You’re most certainly welcome,” Harley answered in a very polite tone, obviously laughing. Ned and Peter glanced at each other, finally realising, that they might not be in trouble, but exactly the opposite. None of them managed to say something, though Peter was fighting a huge urge to ask for an autograph. 

“Take something, there should be some food… Or coffee. There’s definitely coffee, not sure about everything else.”

While Harley was searching for food, they’d laughed and joked and Peter even forgot where he was. With who. And why. Spider sense was silent, not even a small tickling as before aunt May started to lecture him. Stark showed them some code and they talked and talked, making teenagers realise how much stuff they could’ve done better. It took three packs of cheetos for them and two cups of coffee for the billionaire. 

“... not as much as Hammer Industries…” Ned had been talking about something, when he was interrupted.

“By the way, about that, Harley?” Stark asked, not raising his head from StarkPad.

“Okay, right, about that. I was hoping you could contact me with Legal again, they’d crack this one in second, I’m sure.”

“Very interesting and clear,” the man sarcastically said, “more specific please? Are you two involved?”

“No, no, we’ve met in a store, while Harley was heading to his campus or something,” Peter answered calmly. It still felt surreal, but after some time Mister Stark happened to be as human as them, just smarter. They all were a little bit of scientists inside, so after catching the same wave, no one already cared about status or age. It felt really good.

“I’m offended, coming to New York and hacking into my databases instead of a simple call? That hurt,” he jokingly gasped and put a hand to the heart. 

“You're a busy businessman, I decided, I can handle it. Also I’ve met cool people, didn’t I?” Harley shrugged, ignoring Stark’s acting skills. “So this science camp I’m in… Well, basically, it’s kinda fucked up.”

“Hammer’s involved?” Harley nodded, while Tony rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Of course he is, of course. Ugh, and I’ll have to deal with his messes again, nice. Perfect. Just perfect.”

“Excuse me, but what exactly is wrong with a camp?” Peter curiously tilted his head.

“I couldn’t quite understand everything, because, like, it’s a lot of documents, but it’ll be easier if I show.” Teenager turned a laptop to the public and started explaining how he ended up seeing these files or why they seemed interesting.

“So what’s up with documents? I didn’t understand a word,” Ned sighed after a long time trying to understand law terms and expressions. 

“I’m going to show it to Legal, but from what I catched… It’s not good.” Stark looked more serious than the previous part of the day. “How much do you, kids, know about patent laws?”

They all shrugged, admitting that not as much as they should have. Harley was frowning as if trying to remember something, apparently, not successfully. 

“Okay, keeping it simple for young fragile minds. Everything you do in there will count as one hundred percent their invention. You wouldn’t even be able to see how it’s used or where it goes.”

“Wait-wait-wait- that sounds super illegal.”

“Well it is, but it is not, considering you used their materials, equipment… Nevermind, basically, that’s why I have a whole department to deal with this kind of stuff.”

“I thought it’s because you’re the disaster,” Harley pointed out, grinning.

“Not as much as you all.”

“I’d like to disagree!” Ned threw out, still glued to his screen, as calculations still weren’t correct and the pack of cookies were running out too fast.

“Sure, sure.” It struck Peter once again that they actually mocked one of the most powerful men on Earth, but he tried to shake it off. “How are the numbers?”

“Doppler effect doesn’t look right, let me recheck,” teenager murmured, “A few…”

The door, opened with a loud bang, interrupted him, catching all the attention. There stood no more no less than a Pepper Potts, actual CEO of this place. She looked furious. 

“Tony. Stark. Blocking me out? Skipping three meetings to attend? What were you even…” She paused, finally looking around carefully and noticing a few people that certainly weren’t supposed to be part of her rant.

“Kids, Pepper, Pepper, these are the kids. How was your day?” He smiled, not paying attention to the said kids who looked as they were experiencing the scariest and the greatest moment simultaneously. 

“Oh, nice to meet you. Sorry, but I have to take away one person from you and have a nice and long talk.”

“Okay, kids, mom and dad have a very adult argument to attend to. So I think we’re done for today. Come tomorrow, R&D department would love to take some young flesh.”

As Pepper gave him a threatening glance, Stark hurried to follow her, leaving three teenagers on the floor. 

“This is even better than the best day,” Ned let out, completely fanboying. He wasn’t alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did I wrote it in time? Wow, I feel productive. Hopefully, my enthusiasm won't fade away and I'll post the next chapter soon, though I literally have no idea what to do next (yes, all my plan went till this point of time, okay, I'm bad at planning), so if you have any (like, any) thoughts about what troubles could these kids get themselves into, I'd really love to hear!!!


	6. Bonus: other side

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I put it as AU anyway, so it’s happening just a bit after Sokovia, but I wanted Jarvis to be okay, so he is okay. I just want everyone to be happy, so here it goes. Sorry this fic is a mess, but so am I.

Existing was really exhausting and sometimes the man himself had no idea why or how he was still functioning. Tony Stark differed from other people, because he ran on caffeine and hopes for a better future (that, _that_ is very idealistic, but anyway), Sokovia had been a total disaster, and he knew it was his fault. No matter how many times Rhodey or Pepper explained it, how many times he tried to explain it to himself. No luck. The only thing in his power was to help those left alive. So working, coffee, more working. When the day seemed good, he crawled out and messed with R&D department, sometimes attending meetings and press conferences, playing a game of a billionaire, a hero, looking at people that expected something from him. And Tony did it, did even more, because working, inventing -- that was what he could do.

The equations didn’t want to add up, some minor mistake led to a full divergence in the substructures modulation. The eyes were aching as Stark set in a dim light for more than a day, in no-disturb mode, completely forgetting about food. 

“Sir, I have some strange readings from project HAM,” Jarvis said. For a time Tony thought his AI had been gone, and it hurt. He even had to start Friday and this girl happened to be so much smarter than he intended. She found traces of Jarvis, the unremarkably bleak pieces of data. They were still recovering parts, so it would be at least a few months before Jarvis will be able to operate on full power, as before. Now, Friday was assisting him, running most of the calculations. 

“Shit, what trouble do I have to deal with again?”

“Hammer Industries are not planning anything, as far as I can tell. I spotted a minor and very throughout intrusion, that has been going on for some time,” Jarvis answered in a firm voice, so familiar and calming.

“Show me.”

It took less than three minutes to recognize the patterns, to recognize those lines of code. Tony smiled, then frowned, because this was way lower Harley’s league. But he couldn’t just make it simple and call, right? Not fun. So he decided to leave a message on timer, specifically so it would trigger an alarm, that Tony explained to him how to modify. 

That day Stark felt better, so he even got out of the laboratory and went to the R&D department, where they accidentally (well, for scientific purposes, to be correct) blew up some stuff, unintentionally added some new features to coffee machines, scared new interns with Tony Stark himself correcting their mistakes and, maybe, did some actual work after.

The next time Tony woke up in the lobby, with Mike hysterically laughing by his side. Did he fall asleep in the common room or something? Probably.

“Am I joking better in my sleep?” 

“Well, someone definitely has a sense of humor. That’s, that’s from the PSA for- my kid showed me- it’s,” Mike, who lacked sleep for the past few days (as, apparently, everyone in this department), had gone hysterical, so Tony had to look up. The screen was right there, with Captain America saluting in the school corridor. Oh, he recognised it, of course. Tony Stark couldn’t miss a chance to laugh off that life choice. But the letters above the video made everything even more hilarious.

“Don’t cross the law video? He hacked our defence and posted the PSA _about the law_?” Tony couldn’t hold it as well as he couldn’t just miss to see Harley after he really, actually did this. So he was dressed and flying on autopilot, looking through the lines of code, in a few minutes. 

Finding Harley in a small apartment in Queens was far less surprising than finding two more kids with him. The latter couldn’t even talk normally as, apparently, Harley hadn’t told them. Well, the trip happened to be at least funny, until, of course, it was ruined by a phone call of a very impatient person. Tony got out, waving goodbye to the kids and moving attention to an upcoming and not very pleasant talk.

“Board meeting, Tony, I’ve told you. Six times. I left so many notes I can’t even count. Was it too hard?”

“I was busy, Peps. Had some security issues to fix.”

“Yeah? Flying around in a suit is fixing security issues now? Great, just great,” Pepper sighed. “You have to attend it once every three month. It’s not so hard, Tony.”

“I’d rather spent a few hours fixing security issues than meet with these boring people.”

“Well, you will choose the second option. In five minutes.”

The phone call ended with an ultimatum. She didn’t even give a choice, so Stark changed the coordinates. Could he at least fly through the window in protest? Yes.

But in the end, he might have crashed into the wrong window, because there might have been a few thousand projects more important than the board meeting, and, of course, to fulfill them the peace and quiet was needed. So… Maybe, just theoretically, this line of events pissed off Pepper even more. When the kids came next morning, Tony was surprised that he still hadn’t been killed. So… Maybe she wasn’t that pissed?

Yeah, Tony wished. She stormed into their small geek party and turned it off with a few words. Obviously. 

“So, care to explain?”

“What to say, Peps, I’m a busy man.”

“Yes, and I’m a businesswoman, which actually has ‘busy’ in it. Are the kids and blocking me out connected?”

“You jealous? Don’t worry, I’m not replacing, you’ll always be my number one,” he pauses for a second. “Well, maybe there’ll be a small competition with coffee, but…”

Pepper sighed, looking too tired to deal with this. “Do I have to torture it out of Jarvis? I can, of course.”

“Oh, that’s low. Anyway, I might’ve been busy dealing with them, yes. Remember the Haley kid, I told you about? Saved me, we ruined his town together and everythin,” Pepper nodded. “He found some accomplices and they hacked into SI, so there I went. Simple, right?”

“Uh-huh, simple, right.”

“Not lecturing me? You sure you don’t need a break for at least a month.”

“Looking at your sleeping habits, don’t we both?”

They synchronically smiled, just a bit. They’d known each other for so long, no other words were needed. At least, the good part, kids will be here tomorrow, messing around in R&D department, no weird aliens or world threats. That was everything Tony Stark could wish.


	7. Protocol questions

Peter had never felt such a strange mix of emotions, consisting of delight, happiness, fear and anxiety. What if he isn't good enough? What if he fails in front of his hero’s eyes? What if he messes up?

The questions keeped turning in his head, over and over again. Two last days were more than he could ever dream of, more than anyone could ever dream of. Still, it didn’t end, because Tony Stark asked them to come again. To work with the R&D department. Stark Industries’ R&D department. Basically, the most prestigious and the most interesting place of work. A literal dream. Oh no, he’ll certainly fail.

“Ned, how did we end up here?” They’d almost get home, talking about everything and nothing at the same time.

“Dunno. It’s you who picked up a random person.” Ned shrugged, his fanboying part seemed to calm down.

“I wasn’t the only one breaking into SI…”

“We’re lucky, aren’t we?”

It was said simply as a pure fact, not meant to be discussed. Because, actually, they were, weren’t they? And suddenly Peter felt so tired, remembering how many emotions went through in two days. The moment he came into his bedroom and the head touched a pillow, Peter fell asleep.

***

Harley slipped back to the campus with no problems, founding Owen carefully writing something and deciding not to disturb him. He’d like to fall asleep, but really, who needs sleep, when you can do something. The point was, after Mechanic made a ‘I will deal with it’ move on the Hammer Industries issue, there wasn’t much to do. Harley had a ton of unfinished projects, lying around SI servers, but nothing fitted the mood. Thoughts kept wondering and a numb feeling of wanting to do something and not wanting to do anything filled the space. He didn’t notice how calculated a perfect stats for a potato gun, perfectly balancing between recoil and potato momentum. Too old. Too simple.

“Ugh,” the teenager said, falling on the pillow. Harley wanted, craved to touch SI’s equipment, to use full capability of their servers. Because his garage was merely a millionth of everything in there. A dream.

***

  
The enormous tower didn’t pressure Peter as much as last time, so managed to enter it without someone else’s help. Progress, that was definitely a progress. He meant to wait for Ned or Harley, but they both agreed that it would be better to go and investigate around. Peter wished he didn’t come first. Anxiety was kicking in and that just not what he needed right now of all times. Early bed time the previous evening had Peter woken up and nervous early. Sunrise was nice, of course, but he would prefer sleep to constant fear of failing, because that was, in a shell, his life.

“Good day, how can I help you?” the woman looked a bit surprised and that was perfectly understandable.

“Uhm, I’m Peter Parker…”

“Wait a moment, please,” she typed something so fast that even Ned would envy. “Oh, you’re already in the system, notes say you are expected at the 71st floor. Here, your badge.”

Peter looked at the plastic piece in his hands as if it was a treasure, one he should protect at all costs. He off-track thought whether the badge was waterproof or fireproof and how much pressure… Wait. Wasn’t the point, really. The long ride 70 floors up awaited him.

***

  
Harley had to admit that personnel around the tower were way too friendly for his liking. No one to have a scandal with, really, that’s a bit boring. He also had to admit that even the second time seeing the tower up close left him in awe. Everything around seemed so different compared to Rose Hill or, even, to the rest of New York. It felt like three different worlds, with this being some future utopia. Even if he thought that would bother a Mechanic he should have asked for an excursion earlier.

The nice lady at the reception sent him to the 71st floor. Atmosphere seemed calm and a bit chaotic, people wondering about, hopping in and out of the elevator, with everything smelling coffee or some herbals, which Harley couldn’t identify. It all looked disorganised, though everyone knew exactly where they were going. Ride took less than the teenager expected and didn’t allow him to examine more workers. It was quite surprising how different personnel. No uniform, not really. At least half of people wore lab coats, but after that similarities faded. There were everything from classic suits to cute blue sweater with corgis (isn’t it too hot for such a thing anyway?) It made Harley breath out on a choice of simple and a bit torn t-shirt, now only height made him stand out from the crowd.

Finally, the lift arrived. The halls happened to be in range of expectations: lights were a bit dim, but enough to see every detail. Digital watch hanging on the wall showed that he wasn't late (to his surprise). It took a few seconds to spot Peter, engaged in some kind of conversation, mostly one-sided, with his friend scanning walls and his shoes, shifting from one foot to another. They saw each other and waved. A man in his forties, with a few gray hairs noticed him too, adjusting his glasses.

“Are you, by any chance, from Tennessee?” he asked instead of a greeting.

“Uh, hello to you too?” Harley stumbled.

“That seemed to be their protocol question,” Peter shrugged, not seeming to understand more than Harley. “I was asked too.”

“So are you or are you not? That is purely for science, I promise.”

“Looks like an excuse for everything,” Harley mumbled, getting an instant nod from the man. “Well, I am, actually, why?”

“Ha. Knew it,” stranger smiled, then finally noticing confused looks. “Dr. Stark once let it slip, quoting, “there is a kid in Tennessee that’d manage it better” and the whole department was betting on it ever since.”

Harley grinned, not even trying to hide his delight. He assumed, of course, that Mechanic had a good opinion about him, because not many 10 years old children got access to some parts of SI servers and databases, but that felt more than just good opinion. Oh, he’d love to shove it in the faces of everyone in hometown school.

“And, uhm, who won?” Peter asked quietly.

“Oh, I will be actually getting fifty dollars, all thanks to your existence.”

“Can I have, maybe, forty percent?” Harley asked, automatically.

“Ha! A punk, you’ll fit in.” His voice sounded too friendly for the man with ideally brushed hair, ironed lab coat and perfectly clean glasses. Appearance reminded more of that ideally looking english teacher in Rose Hill, who seemed to always be angry with the world and, especially, Harley. That would take some… getting used to.

“It’s Harley. Harley Keener. And I’m not punk, just a bit annoying.”

“Franz Nicolson, glad to meet you.” Harley never thought adults could be so polite to him, the concept felt alien, though he appreciated.

“Wait, _the Franz Nicolson_? With that cool article on dynamical view on quantum thermodynamics?”

“That’s quite sweet, you both react in the same way,” Peter shied away and tried to hide in his hoodie.

“Well, you couldn’t really miss that article, you know, it was talked about a lot and you wrote it so-” Peter started mumbling, being interrupted with a quiet laugh.

“I'm very happy that young generation is enjoying my little poking at some interesting topics. But, really, it’s not even close to finishing…” he shrugged, seemingly touched.

Then, right the moment Harley tried to compliment the scientist (maybe the universe just didn’t want him to be nice, whatever), they saw Ned, waving across the hall. Seeing Stark Industries the second day made him a bit calmer. He wowed only two times as he approached.

“I’m wondering whether you’re from Tennessee too?” Franz asked, apparently enjoying starting conversations this way. Or, maybe, seeing confused faces were even better.

“No…? Was that important? Did I make something wrong? Am I-”

“Just a protocol question, don’t worry.” he smiled. “And as we all finally met, let’s go and see what you can blow up.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So anyway! I wanted to write some fluff and have fun with the kids, so here it goes. Pretty sure there wouldn't be any major plot from now on, so I think five (?) or so chapters and I'll leave everything as it is. Also I have some stuff going on in my life so I'm gonna take a small break. Hope you're having a good time!


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